Sarine’s David Block: Diamond Industry at Standstill Until Chinese Demand Returns

David Block is CEO of Israel’s Sarine Technologies and has served in the position since 2012. In this exclusive interview for Rough and Polished, Block gives his opinion on the leading issues affecting today’s diamond trade.

11 september 2024

Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge: Demand for considerable-sized diamonds stronger than ever

The African Diamond Council (ADC) chairperson Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that although overall global diamond prices have been somewhat soft, the demand for considerable-sized diamonds...

02 september 2024

Amplats sees prospects as a standalone company

Anglo has revealed its plans to demerge Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), which has operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe, to optimise shareholder value. Rough&Polished contacted Amplats to comment on this and other issues but was referred...

19 august 2024

WFDB President Yoram Dvash Remains Confident Despite Global Diamond Challenges

Yoram Dvash is President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) having been elected in 2020. He found time in his busy schedule to speak to Rough&Polished about the state of the diamond industry around the world and some of the major...

12 august 2024

Lyudmila Vysotskaya: Amber is a mystical stone, a living substance

Lyudmila Vysotskaya is a Kaliningrad-based amber artist and designer, expert, chairwoman of the Amber Academy and member of the Creative Union of Artists in Decorative and Applied Arts. This summer, visitors could admire the art works by Lyudmila Vysotskaya...

30 july 2024

Clean Arctic volunteers started coastal cleanup near Old Varandey village

09 august 2024

A group of volunteers from the Clean Arctic project have begun cleaning the coast of the Barents Sea near the village of Old Varandey in the Nenets Autonomous District, the press service of the regional administration reports.

"Volunteers will collect waste and scrap metal near the village of Old Varandey. As usual, the environmental project is supported by Lukoil-Perm. There are 16 people in the group that went to clean up the coast of the Barents Sea," the message says.

This time, volunteers from seven regions of Russia - Rostov, Moscow, Volgograd, Orenburg and Irkutsk regions, as well as Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories - came to clean up the village of Old Varandey. They were joined by volunteers from the Nenets Autonomous District.

During the three seasons of the Clean Arctic project, volunteers collected almost 500 tons of waste. Lukoil-Perm supported the project by providing air transportation for volunteers from Naryan-Mar to Old Varandey and back, organizing accommodation and meals at the cleaning site, and also provided transport for organizing the cleaning of bulky waste, TASS reports.

Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished